The Returned
by Evilprincesspien
Summary: Little rifts of time have been causing people from the past to fall through. It isn't until one individual is spotted that the inhabitants of Storybrooke realize this has to be stopped and there's but one person who can mend the holes.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, dear readers, I am back again with loads of free time and even more creativity I found somewhere. This will be a lovely three-parter, lest I figure out more to write, then it might be bigger, but we'll see. The title, by the way is from an awesome French TVseries.**

**Fanfiction: Once upon a time  
>Story: The Returned<br>****Rating: T (But might change to M)  
><strong>**Characters: Mary Margaret Blanchard/Snow White, Regina Mills/The Evil Queen, King Leopold, Emma Swan/Princess Leia  
>Summary: <em>Little rifts of time are have been causing people from the past to fall through. It isn't until one individual is spotted that the inhabitants of Storybrooke realize this has to be stopped and there's but one person who can mend the holes<em>**

* * *

><p>"Another one." Emma sighed as she put the phone down. "A royal apparently, quite disheveled but some of the townspeople seem to be familiar with him."<p>

"How many does that make?" Snow asked as she rocked Neal, who had started fussing.

It had started with one person, a slightly older woman, confused about basically everything, but nobody thought anything of it. Just the illness of age, they'd figured. But then, when Emma had started looking for the family of the old woman, another one started screaming. The age difference between the two couldn't have been more than a few years, ten at most, but non the less the woman screamed, claiming the older one to be her mother. Her deceased mother that was. Emma thought that perhaps the two were sisters, they did look awfully alike, but then another woman, younger though, in her thirties, had run up to them and was shocked as well. At this point the sherif swore she was more confused than the women. Emma'd called Regina, figuring if anyone knew anything about it, it must've been her, but to no real surprise, the former mayor wasn't in the best of moods and claimed she knew nothing and goodbye. Gold was next on her list and he was willing to talk. Although he didn't know what was going on, he knew for sure the older woman had died and therefor her existence was a complete mystery. Emma had sighed, because, secretly, she'd hoped Zelena would the last of their troubles for a long time and as usual, she was proven wrong about it.  
>Finding a place for the woman wasn't hard, the daughter and granddaughter were more than happy to take her in and make up for lost time. Emma thought that, until this happened again, she'd leave the issue alone. However, half a week later a strange young girl was seen, skipping on the playground Regina build, but she was awfully confused about the structure of the castle. Her clothing was odd enough for a mother, who'd heard about the situation with the older woman, to call the sherif and indeed, the girl was from the past as well, Pre-Evil Queen they learned. A picture of the ten year old girl, who called herself Winnifred, was plastered all over the small town and shortly a man in his early fifties came and said the girl looked like his daughter, who'd died from a decease of the lungs at age thirteen, five years before the death of King Leopold. Winnifred recognized him right away and called him grandpa. Emma sat down with her and told her everything she knew about this strange phenomenon that had been happening. The girl was confused and sad to find out her grandpa had died. Along with so many others. Emma suggested to the father to take her on a quick stop by the hospital, to check out her lungs. Whale would later tell her the girl just had weak lungs, that might have to be replaced in a couple of years. Nothing they couldn't fix now, with medication and later perhaps a donor, but back there and then would've caused her death.<br>Next up was a young man, who had obviously been confused as well, and got hit by a car. The nurses realized he must've been from the past as well because of his clothing and by now most of the town knew what was happening. So they'd called Emma and she'd taken a picture of the unconscious man and walked about town all day to find out who he was. Sadly, she received a phone-call after a long day of knocking on doors, of Whale who told her the man had succumbed from his injuries. Emma then decided it wasn't fair to bother another family with the loss of someone they'd probably morned long ago. In a final moment of consciousness the man had said his name was Ruffius and so they buried him as Ruffius, in silence.  
>Fourth was a woman, barely clothed, unconscious and severely injured, who was recognized by Belle as Chelsea Turner, a tavern waitress. After Whale had examined her, he told Emma the injuries came from sexual assault. This was the moment Emma realized that the Returned, as they started calling them, came back from the death, both at the moment they were killed or died and years before that moment. Even though only four had returned Emma was starting to see some logic. The woman had died of natural causes, the daughter told, at the age of fifty-five, the same age she looked like now. The girl, Winnifred, had died from lung-decease, had returned three years before her unfortunate ending. Then the young man, who Emma thought looked a lot like Charlie, the drunk, and on requiring turned out to be his son who died in battle. Emma figured he'd died at the same age he was then. And then there was Chelsea Turner, who according to Belle had been raped and got fired, because she didn't show up for work the next day. Chelsea tried to go home, but no longer a maiden, her father didn't accept her and so she went hungry. Hunger forced her to sell her body to the marines and pirates, whomever would pay, but she did that for a month or so before she realized life would only get worse and threw herself off a cliff, into the ocean. Horrific. Emma had left Chelsea at the hospital to recover and went to Granny's to see if she could offer the girl any help. Granny, being soft at heart had grunted and taken the girl in after she got released. It soon turned out she was a very skilled waitress, better even than Ruby, and Granny was happy. Emma was not yet satisfied and arranged a police-sketcher to come, giving Chelsea the chance to describe her attacker so Emma could bring him to justice.<br>Returned number five was another child, a toddler, who turned out to be killed by Regina. The boy was given to his niece, seeing as Regina had murdered him and his entire family, when they refused to give up Snow White. Upon questioning, Regina felt guilty and offered her home to the boy, but not surprisingly, the boy was terrified of her. Regina swore she would make up and her being rather rich, she gave the niece a large amount of money, so she could properly care for the boy. Two days ago, she took him and Roland for ice-cream and in the young mind of the boy, all was forgiven.

Emma's phone started ringing again. "Six, hold on." She looked at the caller ID. "I swear if this is another one." She answered. "It's Emma. Yeah?" As the person on the other end continued speaking Emma put down the pencil she'd previously been holding and brought the hand she'd been holding it with up to her face and covered her mouth. "Yes, thank you." She looked at Snow. "I will tell her."

"Tell me what?"

Emma took a deep breath, stood up and grabbed her jacket. "The man who came through claims to be a King Leopold."

"My father?" Snow asked, to which Emma nodded. "Let's go then. I need to see him with my own eyes to believe it." They walked outside, to Emma's yellow bug and started driving in silence. Emma noticed Snow's nervousness, it was hard not to notice, she was almost squeezing the life out of baby Neal.

"Snow..." Emma said as she placed her hand on her mother's shoulder, all while never taking her eyes off the road. "Take a breath, okay? And let Neal take one too. It'll be fine."

She took three quick breaths and let go of Neal a bit. "Oh Emma..." She said. "If it's really him..." She bit her lip. "Do you think he'll be proud of me?"

Emma snorted. "How could he not be? He's got a badass daughter who defended an entire realm all whilst being in love."

"We lost the war when Regina cast her curse." Snow reminded her daughter.

"Shit, Regina... Should we call her? He's her former husband, isn't he?"

"She killed him, Emma."

"Still."

Snow shook her head. "No we do not call Regina. Not until father wants to see her."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later they arrived at the hospital and Snow rushed through the doors, not even waiting for Emma to lock down the car. When she did she followed her mother and walked to the receptiondesk to find out in which room the man was kept. The receptionist was clearly annoyed she had to give the same answer twice but told Emma to get to the second floor, room 204. She walked to the elevator, got in and checked her phone as it went up.<p>

_Mom, love you, could you bring home some icecream? _

Sometimes she wished the kid was still at Regina's most of the time. That would surely simplify things. She'd take care of most of the food, healthy and not, homework and tooth-brushing, while Emma could play videogames with him, watch tv and on the rare occasion Regina wasn't home, sneak in with Henry to eat her snacks and leftovers while reading comics. At moments like those she wished she was still a kid herself.  
>A loud Bing brought her out of her thoughts. She got out of the elevator, found her way to room 204 and saw her mother standing next to the door, leaning in slightly to sneak a peek.<p>

"Mom? What are you doing?"

"He looks like him." Snow offered as an explanation. "He sounds like him too, Emma. It might just be him."

Emma sighed. "Come on, Mary Margaret, it'll be fine. He'll love you, just as I know he did back then. You can do it."

On hearing this, Snow took a deep breath, pressed Neal against her chest and walked in. "Hi." She said.

"Eva?" He asked. "No." He said not a second later. "You cannot be Eva."

"It's Snow, daddy, I'm Snow."

"For a moment there I thought you were..." He smiled sadly. "But look at you, sweetheart, how you've grown. How many winters do you count?"

She smiled too. "Twenty-eight, daddy, in a few months twenty-nine."

"Fourteen winters you were, last time I saw you. You've never looked more beautiful than as you do right now." He said as he looked at the baby in his arms. "And this child, it must be yours."

"He is." She held him up. "Father, this is Neal."

He smiled softly at the child as he held out his arms. "Can I hold him?" She nodded and handed her son over to her father, something she thought she'd never be able to do. "A strong healthy boy. And his father? You are married to him I suppose?"

"Yes father, I'll call him right now!" She exclaimed as she started leaving the room. "Emma, I'll be right back. Do not tell him." One look of hers told Emma exactly what she couldn't tell King Leopold... her Grandpa. Who was giving her a strange look.

"And who are you?"

"Emma Swan."

"Emma Swan. That sounds familiar." He said as he looked back down at the baby. "Emma, could you tell me about my wife? Is she still alive?"

Emma smirked and said "Yeah, she is."

"And my boy?"

Emma gave him a confused look. "Your boy? You have another son?"

**So this is it so far. I didn't think of this by myself though, I read another version of it somewhere and I thought it was good but I would've done a lot of things differently. ****Dear writer, if you're reading this and are thinking "Bitch ripped me off" please PM me so I know who you are and I'll be able give you some credit.  
>Also, this story will be a three-shot (if that's a word) and I'll try to stay true to the original story as much as possible but some things might be different. (their ages most probably...)<br>So Read and Review and give me some more ideas please.**

**Ps: For the readers of my other story who've made some wonderful suggestions, I'm working on two sequels right now that will have two of your suggestions, both very, very, very violent and one a bit funny and kinky:P. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize will probably not be mine. Original idea still to be determined, though I have a pretty good idea who might've written it.**

**Okay so long story short, this happens like a few weeks after Marian's return but in my story, Elsa found Anna a few days after she created the wall of ice around Storybrooke and with the power of sisterly love Elsa was able to melt the wall and control her powers. However, Marian still got hit in the chest and sadly, nothing could be done for her and she died again. Robin is still grieving and Regina helps him as a friend and nothing more (don't worry, OutlawQueen endgame) just as she helps Elsa with her magic.**

"No, not another." The king spoke, making 'shhh' sounds to the wailing baby Neal. "I have _a_ son, or at least I hoped it was a boy. I had dreams about him, you know, a strong, attractive, young lad" He smirked "Just as his father was once. A caring king and a good ruler. I dreamed him on my throne. The astronomer told me they might as well been visions, seeing as my wife was with child." He looked back at Emma. "I mean no disrespect to my daughter, of course, I know she must've been a fair ruler and she must've made a queen of some sorts, but her backbone... when she was still my little girl, she was a bit of a pushover."

"She did great."

Leopold smiled. "If she grew in character the way she grew in beauty, she must've been the greatest ruler my realm has ever seen."

_For the short period she actually was the queen_ Emma thought. "As you said, a fair ruler."

"And my boy..." He noted. "I guess from your demeanor I take it he was never born. My wife, she usually lost the child around the third month so we were hopeful when she finally reached five months. But she was still so thin..." He sighed sadly. "They were not meant to be I suppose." He smiled at her again, but now the baby boy in his arms was moving all around, fussing about being held by a stranger, Leopold looked at her, his eyes almost begging her to take the kid from him.

"You can give him to me, if you wish." She said, holding out her arms. "But I'm not sure it'll do any good. He never seems to..." Before she could finish her sentence the king had already pushed the crying infant towards her. Neal stopped crying instantly. "... calm down around me." Emma said with a hint of surprise in her tone. She was quite happy to hold her brother until his little hands started pulling at her shirt and his mouth tried to latch onto her unexposed breasts. To witch she disturbingly removed the child from her chest and put him down on the hospital bed. Luckily for her this was the moment Snow walked in. "Thank the gods you're here!" Emma exclaimed. "Neal's hungry."

"Oh..." Snow said. "Yeah, of course, I'll feed him in a bit." Then she turned back to her father. "Father, I've just called my husband, David, and he'll be right here. Well, in a few minutes. And don't worry, we'll explain all of the new technology in due time. But first, you've met my son, Neal." She said as she took Neal from the bed and cooed at him for just a moment. "And this..." She motioned to Emma. "Is my daughter. Emma."

"But... You seem to be of the same age." He said, rather confused.

Snow nodded. "Physically, we are. But technically, I'm almost fifty-seven and she's twenty-nine."

"How is this possible? You're closer to my age than hers and you look like... well, this!"

Emma and Snow stood silently for a short while before the latter couched and said: "Well, there was... a sorceress and she upset with our kingdom and she cast a curse. The Dark Curse and it brought us here, to Storybrooke."

"And this sorceress? Is she still there? Ruling my kingdom?"

"No, she came here with us. She's not harmful anymore."

The king sighed and nodded. "I'm sure there's a lot more to this story than you're telling me right now, which I find a good, well thought-through decision and so I do not blame you of course. But now, I'm hungry."

"Of course! I'll text my husband and tell him to meet us at Granny's."

"Yes, grandpa." Emma said. "Because this kingdom comes with a lot of advantages. One of which is coffee."

* * *

><p>"So, mom." Henry said. "You have absolutely no clue how those people got here? Not even the slightest idea?"<p>

Regina looked up from the large, ancient-looking book she was reading. "Well, so far this book has been of little help." She sighed annoyed. "But then again, not a lot of books will have something on the matter in them. It's really just guessing."

"So what are you guessing?"

"I'm guessing Zelena's curse, the one that brought Miss. Swan and Hook to the past and then back with Marian on their heels caused something to happen with our reality. I think that time is trying to fix things but has no idea what to do and is just basically bringing all sorts of people back. People who should've died back then. What I don't understand is why it keeps happening. Shouldn't one person have been enough?"

Henry nodded. "That's a pretty interesting theory."

His tone of voice caused Regina to raise her eyebrows. "You have another, don't you?"

He nodded enthusiastically. "I think the Returned somehow have a connection to Marian and by not seeing her die they somehow lived, but there couldn't be two versions of them, so they were send to the future."

"But what if they died before Marian did?"

"Thought about that too." Henry said. "The Returned are all from after her death."

"But then who send them to the future?"

"Stop blowing holes in my theory just because you're jealous of how much better it is than yours."

"Henry!"

"What did the kid do now?" Emma asked after she suddenly appeared from out of nowhere.

Regina clicked her tongue. "Being a smart-ass. He got that from you."

Emma just looked shocked. "Are you serious right now?"

"Completely."

"I'm going to ignore that lie for now." Emma groaned. "Well, anyway, Snow send me to see if you were at Granny's and you were, so her anticipation-skills are still top-notch. But that aside, you need to leave." And before Regina could make a hateful comment she added. "Another Returned and Snow doesn't want you to upset him."

Regina now nodded understandingly. "Another one of my victims? I killed him?"

"Yeah."

She took a breath and with one big gulp she finished her coffee. "Is it okay if Henry stays? I need to... well, I need to talk to Elsa. It's been colder lately, so I figured she must be upset... or extremely happy. And I'd rather talk to her alone. One witch to another." She joked.

Emma nodded. "It's fine. Come on Henry, you'll wanna meet this guy. He's pretty cool."

A swirl of purple smoke surrounded his mother and then she was gone. "That was pretty cool too."

"I suppose it was."

"So who's this guy I need to meet?"

"Your great-grandfather."

Henry stopped dead in his tracks. "Mr. Gold's side, grandpa's or grandma's?"

"Grandma's."

"So he's also my adoptive father?"

Emma sighed. "In a sick, twisted, round-about way, my grandfather is your father." Emma shivered. "That's disgusting." She nodded towards a booth. "Go sit down, kid, I'll call them in." She disappeared for a quick second, but then she returned and behind her followed David, Snow carrying Neal, and an older man, one he'd only seen in a vague, blurry drawing. Emma sat down next to him and Snow let her father in first, so he sat across from Henry, before dropping herself down. David grabbed a chair and sat at the head of the table.

"So father," Snow said. "this is Emma's son, Henry."

"Nice to meet you, young Henry." He then turned back to Emma. "And your husband is... where exactly?"

Emma forced a smile. "He died protecting us." Leaving out that they were never married to begin with.

"I see. I noble cause." The king said. Then Ruby appeared, ready to take any orders. The Charmings asked for their usual hamburger with fries and a coke and ordered steak and fries for King Leopold, while Henry, who just ate a few minutes ago, just asked for another hot coco, with cinnamon of course."

The king smirked. "Just like Regina."

"What's just like Regina?" Henry asked, curiously.

"Well the cinnamon atop of hot chocolate of course. When Snow was still twelve and Regina and I had just been wed, she was ill with the cold and so Regina gave her hot chocolate with cinnamon. Just like her father had given her when she had the cold, she told me. Funny to see how that passed on from generation to generation."

Henry smirked at his mother and then at his grandmother. "I never knew."

Emma looked at Snow. "You never told me."

Snow shrugged. "I'd forgotten too."

"Speaking about Regina." The king said. "Where is my wife? Is she still alive?"

Snow sighed. "She is."

"I guess she doesn't want to see me." He nodded to nobody but himself. "I suppose it's understandable."

"Why do you say that, father?"

"I wasn't the best husband, of course, she must've told you after my passing."

Snow shook her head. "Regina never spoke of you again." She shrugged. "I guess she wanted to forget you."

"I guess so."

* * *

><p>"Elsa?" Regina yelled as she entered the small, two bedroom apartment they'd given the sisters. Regina was still having a hard time believing the two were related, not just because their appearances were so different, their characters were as well. Elsa being the calculated blonde, who always tried to keep her emotions bottled up and Anna being the spontaneous, happy redhead who was thinking about new adventures every second she was not having one. The only thing they seemed to have in common was their love for one another. After Elsa had erected the wall of ice and had threatened to lock them in forever, just for the slightest bit of information about her sister's wellbeing, they knew the love between two sisters might be equal, if not greater, than true love. And it was just this love they used to locate Anna. For some reason, Gold owned two strings of hair he claimed were made of pure sisterly love, and when he blew them out of his store he said to follow the hairs and they would find the owners. It came to no surprise the blonde, almost white hair flew towards Elsa and attached itself immediately, but when the red one followed shortly they had no idea what to make of it. That was, until the red hair tried to attach itself to the necklace Anna used to wear. Gold had taken a deep breath, examined the necklace and then, with Bo Peep's Shepherd's crook, a bright light appeared and when it was gone, there stood Anna, not a day older, wearing said necklace. The sisters embraced and almost didn't let go, holding onto each other for dear life.<p>

"Anna?" Regina tried. And out came a happy redhead who gave her the biggest smile.

"Regina!" She said. "Oh I'm so happy to see you, you have no idea. Elsa left like two hours ago and I've been bored to death! She told me to watch the magic box for entertainment or else just use the other, but smaller, little box and press any button to communicate with someone, but when I tried, I pressed like three buttons at the same time because I thought, the more people, the more fun, there was this lady that reacted oh so foul when I said the only emergency I had was boredom! Well, I'll tell you, she asked first. She shouldn't ask if she doesn't want an honest answer! Then she asked if my parents were there? Can you believe that? She pretended she doesn't know us! So I told her who my parents were and who my sister was and she was just silent and then said: Either this is a really childish prank or you are mentally retarded. Now I'll tell you, that wasn't very nice. But..."

Regina couched. "Yes, well, that's a very lovely story dear. Now come along and sit down." After she pushed Anna to sit down in front of the television and she pushed a couple of buttons until there was a program on she felt was suitable, a cartoon, she went to the kitchen to make a pot of tea. "Now, dear, I've made enough tea to last you half an hour, if you're still thirsty, you can take a drink from the fridge. You know the tall, white box in the kitchen? Good. But do not touch the stove. I'm going to find Elsa and then I'll give the two of you, yet _another_ tour of the house and the appliances."

"Okay, but I wouldn't go find Elsa. She and her friend went out and she told me not to bother her."

"Friend? Which friend?"

Anna shrugged as she took a sip of her tea. "Just some boy. He said he training to become a knight back in the Enchanted Forrest, just like his father, he said he was really close. Here he takes care of the elderly who still live at home, while he was planning on going to school to become a therapist."

"Ah, I see. And this boy's name was?"

"Charlie Goodson?"

Regina nodded. Charlie was a good kid and she trusted him. But she was still going to check up on the girl. "Did either tell you where they were going?"

"Granny's first for dinner and then they were going to watch a movie or something back at his parent's place."

"Thank you, darling, I'm just going to see how they're doing."

"Tell Elsa to bring back some ice-cream."

Regina waved her hand and a box of rocky road appeared next to the redhead. "Enjoy." And with that she poofed herself outside of Granny's. The cold quickly forced her to go inside and it wasn't long before she spotted Elsa and her male friend. The smile on the blonde's face betrayed her happiness and so Regina realized she was having a good time, perhaps the sudden cold was merely nature getting ready for a stern winter. When she looked to her left and saw Henry smiling and talking happily, she smiled as well. How far she'd come? A long while ago, the boy sitting with his other family would've driven her mad with rage and jealousy. Now she was just happy for him and for herself as well. She was happy with how things were. But then she realized why she wasn't sitting next to them and quickly hid herself in another booth. Curiosity got the best of her and she peeked, however, she only saw a head of grey hair and some bald spots here and there. For a moment she thought it may have been her father, after all, she did kill him, but the voice. The voice sounded familiar but she couldn't quite place it. Annoyed she stood up and quickly moved to the restroom, where she texted Emma.

_Miss Swan, who's Returned? Who's that man? _

**Did u see him?**

_Only heard him. He sounds so familiar._

**Snow doesn't want u near right now, u should ask her.**

Regina tried to bully the birth mother of her son into telling, but the blonde didn't respond. Even after several death threats, she didn't text back. Angry, Regina pocketed her phone and left the restroom. She sat at the bar and ordered a coffee.

"Here you go, Madam Mayor." Ruby said, surprisingly happy for once. Next to her, Chelsea was preparing some other drinks. It was obvious her mind was somewhere else and Regina could hazard a guess. The bruising on her face was healing, but still obviously there. Whale had repaired her broken nose but it still looked crooked and it would probably take a surgery or two for it to look as it did before.

"You're Chelsea right?" Regina asked. "You used to work at that tavern near the docks?" The girl nodded shyly and next to her, Ruby suddenly got protective and send her a warning glare. "Oh calm down." She sighed. "Chelsea, would you like me to fix your face?"

The girls eyes got big. "You can do that?" Regina nodded and took a sip of her coffee. "How much would it cost?"

"Nothing of course."

"Magic always comes with a price." Ruby growled. "Certainly with Gold and definitely with you. Your price is just a bit more unclear."

Regina nodded. "You're right, even healing magic has a price, but it's one I will pay. Chelsea, I know how you feel and believe me, getting your own face back will only be the beginning of your healing progress, but that's something I can and want to help you with. Do you want me to? I promise you, no strings attached."

"You promise?"

"I swear."

The girl nodded. "Then yes, please, take away these bruises." She thought for a second. "Can you fix my nose too? And the scars?"

"Of course." And with that Regina waved her hand. Chelsea immediately reached up to feel her nose and smiled before she grabbed a tissue-dispenser and looked at the rest.

"Thank you so much!" The waitress cried before she reached so far over the counter to give Regina an awkward hug. "I'm going to the restroom for a bit, okay Ruby?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, sure, Go ahead." Once she was out of sight Ruby turned back to Regina. "So what was the price?" To which Regina rolled up her sleeve and showed the werewolf a nasty looking bruise.

"It doesn't really hurt and it heals trice as fast." Regina said before she took another large sip of coffee.

Ruby started making another cup. "Next one is on the house."

"Granny will murder you."

"Probably."

Regina shook her head. "I don't need another coffee. What I do need is for you to tell me who the fifth person sitting at Henry's table is."

"I believe a relative of Snow's."

"An uncle?"

Ruby shuffled uncomfortably. "I promised I wouldn't say."

Regina nodded. "A topic that sensitive. A relative of Snow I killed can only be one person."

**So that's it for this chapter. I'm sorry if my writing wasn't top notch, I know I've had better days. But perhaps, one day, I'll edit it and it'll look like Shakespeare. (Obviously I'm kidding). Next chapter will be up soon enough and as always: Thank you so much for your reviews and I'd love it if you r&r'd again**

**Much love from me!**


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